Did you have fun with these questions? Yes, some were quite silly, others were quite tricky, and some were just silly tricks!. Key Stage 2 pupils at Dalwood Primary School in Axminster, Devon wrote that, "They were having great fun with them. We think the questions are brilliant... and are looking forward to having a go at the May problems and puzzles." Thanks to all of you, and hopefully you are working away at this month's mathematical mindbenders!

Boiling Eggs

So, if one egg that takes 6 minutes will 6 eggs take six times longer?
No, six eggs will take 6 minutes, says Nick, a pupil at Wesley Preparatory School as well as Mithran from Grade 2 at Mill Park Heights Primary School, both schools in Melbourne, Australia. Samantha and Billy from Dalwood Primary School, Basak of Mef School in Turkey

Birds on a Scarecrow

and Becky from Dalwood Primary School think, "There are no birds left sitting on the scarecrow's head". Mithran from Grade 2 at Mill Park Heights Primary School, Melbourne in Australia agrees. But, why ever not? "Because the others will escape (fly away)", explains Basak of Mef School in Turkey. Quite right, scared birds don't stay around to be captured!

Writing Numbers

No, of course eleven thousand, eleven hundred and eleven is not written as 1111011! It was hard to fool you with this one. As Simon, from Tattingstone Primary School showed 11,000 + 1100 + 11 = 12111. An answer shared by several other mathematicians.

Apples in a Bowl

If you took 2 from 11 apples how many apples would you have? Are you subtracting to find a difference, or are you taking apples??
Thomas and Lewis, from Dalwood Primary School, though carefully about this and came up with two possible answers. "If it's your bowl you would still have 11 apples but 2 would be out of the bowl. But, if it isn't your bowl, you would you would only have the ones you had taken. So you would have 2!" Can't fool these friends!

Pennies in a Dozen

There are indeed 12 pennies in a dozen. In this problem we didn't have 96 dozen and one half dozen but 96 pence and six pence. There were many solutions to that problem and all with the same answer! That's quite unusual to have total agreement.

Laying Eggs

Several ways to solve this problem were evident from the work sent in. Simon of Tattingstone Primary added 11/2 hens and eggs four times to get six eggs from six hens in a day and a half. Then as Simon says, "Do it all again!" Therefore, six hens take 72 hours or 3 days to lay a dozen eggs, calculates Mithran from Mill Park Heights Primary School.

What do Hens Say?

Was the answer 12 or was it 20? These were sonme of the possibilities sent in.
Or, if we take the question literally, is Marion Sanders of Tattingstone Primary School correct?
"None of the hens can say they have the same colouring as another - because hen's can't speak!" I'm with you on that one Marion.
Thank you, also, to Jackson from Wesley College which is in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia and to Joanna from Dalwood Primary School.

What Day?

This was a tricky one to unravel as the different answers showed. Was it Thursday, Friday Saturday or Sunday? Yesterday's tomorrow is today. It seems that today is Friday. So, tomorrow is Saturday. The day after tomorrow's yesterday (which is today - Friday) must be Saturday. I think!!!
The people who worked on that confusing muddle of days need mentioning: Roger, Rebecca and David, Matthew and Chris, Mithran, Simon and Marion, as well as Zoe and Winston.

Coins in a Bag

You knew there was catch to this one. "Make 1 of the children give the coin back to you and put it back in the bag", was one suggestion.

But if you want the children to each have a coin you could do what Marion from Tattingstone Primary or Joe and Frances from Dalwood Primary School suggest: "If there were six children you could give one coin to five children and give the one that's left to the sixth child - still in the bag!"